Dr. Hari Cherukupally, a small-town agriculture student who found himself on an unexpected journey to management and Technology leadership roles. He started his career managing farm operations at Maxworth Orchards before joining the chairman’s office at Nagarjuna Fertilizers.
His work on “Why farmers do what they do” evolved into a portal on farming intelligence and lead him to management roles in Siebel Systems CRM and Oracle’s Business Intelligence and data analytics.
Dr. Hari Cherukupally is an avid photographer and a technology enthusiast with 20 years of experience in Analytics and Decision Sciences.
Q. How has been your journey from IIFM so far?
A. It’s been quite a varied journey, filled with many uncertain crossroads along the way. My career has taken me through very diverse sectors including agribusiness, chemicals, steel, energy, software management, and IT. Navigating through a diverse career path with management roles at Nagarjuna Fertilizers, Siebel Systems, Oracle, Facebook and other companies!
Q. How has been your experience? What all areas have you been working?
A. While I worked as a farm manager, professor, marketing executive, and a software vendor, the most challenging role I’ve had was serving as the Chief of Staff to the CMD. It involved facets of strategic planning, overseeing operations, evaluating investment risks, managing stakeholders, and helping with communication – crafting messages, speeches, presentations, and press releases for both internal and external audiences. There isn’t a management class that prepares you for this role.
I had put together a risk mitigation program for farmers in 1998 that was later adopted by several companies like ITC. This program became a portal for crop information at Nagarjuna and lead me to a career in Software Development.
Q. What is the most satisfying part in your career?
A. Benefit of working with experts from very diverse backgrounds and the ability to mentor upcoming managers.
Q. Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?
A. Definitely. Communication Classes, Group Projects, Field Work and OT’s (now called SI & Project Work). These are significant elements of life-relevant learning at IIFM that I didn’t appreciate at that time!
Q. Who (or what) are the biggest influences or drivers in your careers?
A. We entered the workforce at the time of liberalization and uncertainty. Gaining market relevant skills was very important. My roommate DK (Dharmendra Daukia) dragged me to a computer to teach Lotus 123. I still use the concepts he taught me those days!
Q. What would be your advice to freshers and IIFM graduates who are looking to choose similar sectors/roles?
A. I don’t know of an ideal career path for anyone. My observation is that the rockstars or the smartest kids in the class may or may not succeed in life, but the one with the most open attitude always does.
Q. How did you decide to go for higher studies post IIFM?
A. Most of my classmates chose to take jobs through campus placement. In 1991, forestry-related jobs were few and not as appealing as other corporate positions. I opted to join the FPM program at IIM Bangalore to widen my career choices.
Q. What are your favorite memories during your IIFM days?
A. Several moments have stayed with me even after 35 years:
● The early morning knock on the door from Chandu for delivering bed coffee!
● Friday evening trips to the Mehfil with Shiji
● Beating the faculty team in Cricket games between faculty and students.
● Holi and Playing Kabaddi after a bhang fest.
● Late night walks under the water tank
● Dinners hosted by Glutton’s club (especially Shumon’s cooking)
Q. In hindsight, what was the biggest contribution or take away from IIFM that you think played a critical role in shaping you as an individual or professional?
A. The vastness and the beauty of the campus. The camaraderie that we built with Staff and Faculty. Good mentors like Prof. Biswas and Prof. Pethia. The field work in Sirsi; OT with MYRADA and SIDA. Cohorts and their aspirations. All these leave indelible impressions and lessons for life.
IIFM’s emphasis on experiential learning through field visits, OTs, and case studies helped acquire practical skills, built self-confidence and a resilient mindset which played a crucial role in my life.
Q. The best buddies / seniors /faculty at IIFM? Some memorable tidbits that you like to share?
A. The train journey from Bhopal to Hubli for our field trip. Imagine a group of classmates in the same train car on an overnight trip! Shivnath, Bara, Varalakshmi, Ramesh (Going to Chittoor, AP); Dharmendra, Sandeep, Chandra Kishore (to Mysore); Ravi Gupta, Anil Purohit, Shiji Thankan and Myself (to Sirsi). We had a blast on the train. Cricket games we played alongside the faculty and staff to win several matches against other teams. (Prof Biswas, Saxena were outstanding among faculty and staff, Amar Saxena discovered he could bowl spin! I found myself hitting the winning runs in at least 3 games).
Shumon’s singing and cooking, Sandeep’s photographs, Anil’s poetry, Shiji’s casual jokes, CK’s Carrom board tricks, Old Monk and Mahua made our days.
Q. As an alumni, what’s your advice to freshers or those are joining IIFM to get best out of the 2 years there?
A. Have fun, make friends and stay true. You learn as much from your classmates as from your professors.
Q. What was your typical day at the work? And how does it look like while you are on a break?
A. A day of work is what you make it to be. Apart from mundane things like status meetings and action items, lunch or coffee breaks with members of my team make my day. Travel, meetings, demos, an hour of code are routine. Being affable costs nothing!
Q. And how about weekends, hobbies, family and anything else you want to add?
A. Gardening, Photography, family, travel, hiking keep me busy. My wife and I collect and distribute food and clothing to the unsheltered in the Bay area cities (San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland) over the weekends. We started this during the pandemic and continued.
Q. Favorite Books, movies, authors?
A. It has been a long time since I could finish a book. There are several in the shelf, half read and imploring me to finish! I used to read JK during IIFM days. Still do.
Q. Any suggestions on who you want to get profiled/interviewed here?
A. Amar Saxena, Chandra Kishore, Praveen Pruthi, Anil Purohit from my Class.